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Les Noirs construisent du vert !
Add your name to the petition to support the Blacks Build Green! campaign
Green Jobs: Noire Hands and Minds Build Green
What does “Black Hands and Minds Build Green” mean?
Green jobs are a central pillar of BEI’s long-term strategy.
Green Jobs can create tangible benefits that communities can see, feel, and build upon, while addressing persistent financial stress and barriers to stable employment.
Environmental solutions are strongest when the people most impacted are also the ones designing, implementing, and governing them.
To date, BEI’s green jobs strategy has focused on four interconnected pathways:
Green construction and skilled trades
Creating accessible, well-paid opportunities for community members who have historically been excluded from higher education and who have barriers to employment(newcomers,people living with disabilities, youth-at risk, previously incarcerated people etc).Environmental policy and governance roles
Supporting community members to participate in decision-making spaces where environmental policies and action are shaped locally, nationally, and globally, so lived experience informs policy and environmental action design. This includes placing community members in environmental and social organizations and government.Climate science and technical roles
Building pathways for community members to become the architects of climate solutions, generating scientific knowledge and innovations. This includes a focus on the promotion of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics in our communities. It also includes contributing to changing the stereotypes on who can be a scientist in society.- Nature-based employment
Building pathways for community members interested in working on the land, in nature-related sectors to find good jobs.
While we focus on creating green jobs for black communities, our programs are designed to also benefit other equity-denied communities, like other racialized groups with similar barriers and experiences.
A focus on creating green jobs for Black communities is not about preferential treatment.
It is a response to a persistent and often underrecognized reality: Black people are frequently among the most excluded from economic opportunity. Our work contributes to also opening employment pathways for all communities experiencing similar exclusions.
BEI works to ensure that green jobs pathways are accessible to those who have historically been excluded from them.
Why should we invest in Green Jobs for Black communities?
While talent is evenly distributed across the world, access to opportunity is not.
Within the environmental sector, one that historically has not been designed with the realities, priorities, or lived experiences of Black communities in mind, Black people interested in environmental careers often face structural barriers that make it difficult to enter, advance, and thrive.
At the same time, many job-seekers in Black communities could benefit significantly from opportunities in the green economy, yet they are rarely the focus of green jobs outreach, training, or recruitment efforts. Youth facing systemic barriers, newcomers, and formerly incarcerated individuals are among those who could most benefit from intentional pathways into meaningful, stable employment connected to the green transition.
Green jobs can be a source of economic stability, dignity, and collective healing.
What kinds of work does this campaign support?
In 2021, BEI partnered with the Toronto Community Benefits Network’s NextGen Builders program to support green construction training for immigrant workers. Through this collaboration, we learned that, in addition to training, there was a need for an entire suite of support for job-seekers.
BEI is well positioned to help build and coordinate this type of solution in partnership with sector leaders, employers, and training institutions. By doing so, we can significantly increase job placements in Black communities and ensure that talented individuals can access stable, dignified livelihoods within the growing green economy.